Easy Apple Crisp Recipe with Oats

This apple crisp recipe with oats has sweet tender apples and a crisp and crunchy topping made with flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Jump to the Apple Crisp Recipe. Or watch this quick, straight-forward recipe video showing you how to make it.

Adam likes his apple crisp with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and I love an even bigger scoop of whipped cream. Either way, it’s delicious. I should also mention that this is phenomenal cold — sounds a little strange, I know. After a night in the fridge, all the flavors meld and mingle, giving it lots of extra flavor the next day.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Baked Cinnamon Apples are easy enough for tonight, but doubles as the perfect dessert for friends and family (or the holidays). These just might beat apple pie!

Recipe Update: We loved our old recipe, but have found a better way. We couldn’t keep that from you, could we? The filling is very similar to our old recipe, but calls for orange instead of lemon. The topping has changed a little. We explain the changes below.

How to Make an Apple Crisp with Oat Topping

Like most baked apple recipes, you’ll want to use flavorful and firm apples — Granny Smith are our go-to. It’s also nice to combine two varieties. In our photos, we used two baking-friendly apples– Granny Smith and Braeburn.

We also found that by leaving the apples unpeeled, the texture and flavor is better — especially after such a long bake time. Plus, no time needed for peeling!

For the topping, we use melted butter. Spend a few minutes searching “apple crisp recipes” on the internet and you’ll notice most recipes call for cold or room temperature butter. This is exactly what we used to do. Using our fingers or a fork, we’d work the butter into flour and oats until crumbly. This method works well, but we think we’ve found a better way.

We were looking for a tender topping with a little crunch — something to balance the softened apples. When we used the old method with un-melted butter, we noticed that during baking, the topping would melt down over the apples and into the filling below. It tasted great (how could it not, right?), but it wasn’t exactly what we were looking for.

In our updated recipe, by starting with melted butter, the topping stays put and crisps on top of the apples.

Easy Apple Crisp Recipe with Oats

PREP 15mins

COOK 1hr 15mins

TOTAL 1hr 30mins

This is a very simple apple crisp. Like most baked apple recipes, you’ll want to use flavorful and firm apples — Granny Smith are our go-to. It’s also nice to combine two varieties. In our photos, we used two baking-friendly apples– Granny Smith and Braeburn. You could even add a handful of blackberries, raisins or cranberries. We also found that by leaving the apples unpeeled, the texture and flavor is better — especially after such a long bake time.

Serve warm or serve our favorite way, which is cold — sounds a little strange, we know. After a night in the fridge, all the flavors meld and mingle, giving it lots of extra flavor the next day.

Directions

Core apples then cut into 3/4-inch pieces. Add apples to a large bowl with orange zest, orange juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir then add to baking dish.

Make Topping

Combine flour, oats, sugar and the salt in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter then stir until all the flour has been moistened by the butter and topping is crumbly. Sprinkle over apple filling. (We like to use our hands to do this. As we sprinkle, we press the crumbles together to create larger clumps of topping.)

Bake Crisp

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes or until juices are thickened, the apples are tender and the topping has turned light golden brown. If the topping starts to become too brown, cover with aluminum foil and continue to bake until the apples are done.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

Gluten-free apple crisp: Use you favorite store-bought gluten-free flour blend instead of the all-purpose flour called for above. We are partial to Bob’s Red Mill.

Use whole wheat flour: Replace the all-purpose flour with an equal amount of whole wheat flour or use white whole wheat flour.

Reduce the sugar: The sugar needed depends on how tart your apples are. We love the crisp to be slightly tart, so reducing the sugar with the apples and in the topping is an option.

Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. We assumed 1/4 cup of sugar for the apple filling.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Don’t Miss Our Latest Recipes

We all struggle with what to cook for dinner and yes, I am definitely including Adam and me in that! So you never run out of inspiration, we want to send you a completely free weekly email with easy, delicious and fresh recipes perfect for dinner! Click Go to signup for free!

This was incredible! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly. One hour was exactly right for the apples to become perfectly tender. I used 5 Golden delicious and 1 Granny Smith just to mix it up 🙂 I used a quarter cup sugar since I had mostly sweet apples. I might personally add a bit more next time as my orange was rather large and added to the tartness, but it wasn’t too tart and my guests said it was just right. Next time I will also try the crust with all brown sugar as I love brown sugar. But I couldn’t believe how well everything came out. Normally I have to tweak amounts and cook times a lot, but not this time!

This is fabulous. I think I’d stick to an hour of baking next time. The apples are close to applesauce texture, but still delicious. I wasn’t sure about the peels, but they are a nonissue. I used a Northern Spy/Crimson Crisp mix, with a 1/4c sugar. In the topping I used 1/2 c brown sugar, no white. Salted butter, so no added salt. I also mixed it up in the morning and then baked it when I got home. I will be making this again, for sure!

Hi, I lost my apple crisp recipe that I used for many, many years, and this recipe is fabulous! So delicious! I didn’t have old fashioned oats, so I used Bob’s Old Country Style Muesli, loved it! Picked up some apples today from the farm stand and am going to make this recipe today! Thank you!

Lovely! Turned out great 😀 I’ve been researching how to make an apple crisp that doesn’t have the problem of the topping becoming soggy. This recipe is just the ticket as my research said that melting the butter is key. I also added 1/4 cup of chopped nuts to the topping mix for extra assurance (I really don’t like a soggy crisp!) – I used slivered almonds but would add whatever nuts I had on hand. I think forming the topping into clumps really helped with the texture as well. I did reduce the butter by 1/3 as I don’t like the topping too rich and that still worked great. I liked the simple preparation for the apples – it makes this recipe straightforward, easy to follow, and easy to repeat. I made 2 double batches 🙂 One other thing I did (another tip I came across in my research) was to drain the apples before placing them in the pan, to remove any excess liquid from the orange mixture and further enjoy a not-at-all soggy crisp 😀

Put this together in the morning (followed the recipe exactly), left it in the fridge then put it in the oven in the evening for 1hr15min. It was very good! My husband and I were both very impressed. I was worried about keeping the skin on the apples but it was just perfect. Great easy recipe!

Love love love this orange play on apple crisp! I live out on a farm and substituted a jar of honey orange spice preserves I had made myself for the orange and I cut back on the sugar. I’m gluten sensitive so I used as directed a gluten-free flour and oatmeal and added a little cinnamon to the topping… EXCELLENT! Thank you

I used splenda in the filling and brown sugar splenda in the topping. It still has a lot of sugar because of the apples, but I will enjoy it in moderation! The orange flavor really makes the difference and sets this apart from other recipes. Thank you for sharing!

I made it tonight and LOVED it …I did find it a bit too sweet so if I wanted to reduce the sugar and butter to make it a bit “healthier” or not as sweet what measurements would you recommend? Also how could I make this using rhubarb ? Which is another crisp I LOVE

Hi Alyssa, I’d just replace some of the apples (or all) with rhubarb. If you found it too sweet, try reducing the sugar a bit — I’d keep the topping the same, but reduce the sugar added in with the apples. You could try a couple tablespoons of sugar or leave it out completely, which reduces the sugar in the recipe quite a bit.

I would like to see how you would do this crisp, by removing the sugar completely and putting some honey in the topping, in place of the sugar there. Would there need to be more flour, since there would be more liquid? Or would you add some oatmeal, or something else?

Hi Bonnie, Honey should definitely work in the topping. I don’t think you will need to add anything in addition to what is already listed in the recipe (although, since we have never done this ourselves, you may need to do a little experimenting yourself).

Joanne and Adam! I stumbled upon this recipe via Pinterest and made it this morning. It’s amazing! Thanks for the Saturday inspiration. I hope this finds you both well and we hope to work with you again soon. Jess

Just made this as an added desert for Thanksgiving dinner with friends. Easy to do, I followed the recipe except used light brown sugar with the Granny Smith apples and the crust. It’s baking now and I’m so pleased at how simple it was to make that i’m calling it’ How do you like them apples”. I will let you know the response from the guests. Next time I will probaby cut way back on the sugar in the apple filling, for myself because i like it tart, but for now i used a good amount.

This is an incredibly good apple crisp! Very fresh with awonderful orange citrus flavour! I have made this 3 times this month! everyone loves it! I love the ease of not peeling apples! I used cork and only in one (yummy) and them apple mixtures in the other two,

I have never tried a recipe off of the internet before, but thought that I would try one now. A neighbor gave me a large bag full of Mac apples, so I decided to try out your recipe. However when I checked in my cupboards I couldn’t find any old fashioned rolled oats. All that I have at home is quick rolled oats. Do you think that these will work as well?

All comments are moderated before appearing on the site. Thank you so much for waiting. First time commenting? Please review our Comment Guidelines. By submitting your comment, you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

We are so happy you’re here. We’re Adam and Joanne, the creators of Inspired Taste. We develop the recipes, photograph, shoot videos, and we’re the ones answering your cooking questions. More about us..

Subscribe to Dinner

We all struggle with what to cook for dinner and yes, I am definitely including Adam and me in that! So you never run out of inspiration, we want to send you a completely free weekly email with easy, delicious and fresh recipes perfect for dinner! Click Go to signup for free!